


The Day the Fire Died

by ThatDarnLakeSiren



Category: Coco (2017)
Genre: Character Death, Death, Fluff and Angst, Land of the Dead, Mentions of Suicide, Mentions of self-harm, Minor Injuries, Self-Harm, Serious Injuries, Suicide, This story will bounce from dark to light in a snap, self-indulgent fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-03
Updated: 2018-06-03
Packaged: 2019-05-17 11:58:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14831879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatDarnLakeSiren/pseuds/ThatDarnLakeSiren
Summary: Some fires blaze bright, and hot, and burn out in a few years. Others burn low and dim, but steady for a hundred years or more. Some fires go out and people shiver from the cold, mourning for the warmth. Others curse the cinders and spit upon the ashes, exuberant that the burning heat was gone.Some fires are put out prematurely, with water or earth, smothered and abandoned and leaving unfulfilled potential and grief in the wake of their extinguishing.





	1. Chapter 1

He remembered pain, sharp and exquisite and raw against his arms. The confusion of feeling so, so cold, despite the sticky warmth that coated him, clung to him, soaking into his clothes.

His attacker continued to press down upon him, pinning him, hands wrapped around his throat. Miguel weakened, gasping and choking, lungs burning for air that was denied him. The knife his attacker had first used lay further up the alley, stained red with his blood.

Through the dull rushing in his ears, he made out the sound of his name, a young, shrill voice _screaming_ for him. Mustering up all the power he could, Miguel managed to lift up his feet and kick his attacker in the gut, loosening the grip on his throat.

Gasping for breath, the young _musico_ managed to stand, and fell upon his attacker with a roar of anger and desperation, managing to knock him out before they could do any further harm against him or his sister. It wasn’t easy, fighting against someone older, but Miguel was strong for his age.

Ignoring the would-be mugger that now lay slumped against the ground, nose smashed in against Miguels’ knee a few moments prior, the young man turned and strode over to the singular garbage can that hid his little sister Coco and his loyal alibrije Dante.

Crouching beside them, he quickly hid a yelp of pain when Coco lunged at him, burrowing her face in his ruined button-up shirt. She was sobbing and sobbing, and Miguel whispered and sang soft, soothing words to her, encouraging Dante when he licked some of the snot and tears from her cheek, startling a giggle out of her.

Lightheadedness washed over him, and he pushed himself away before he fell on his little sister. She cried out when he landed roughly on his side, curling around the wounds that gushed with crimson and copper and _oh god no he was dying_.

He had thought it would hurt that much more. He thought it would be more like falling asleep, rather than the numbing darkness that was slowly overwhelming his senses, choking off his air, strangling the panic that was rising in his throat.

He didn’t know what to do. So he went on instinct, using what little strength he had left to reach out and clutch at his little sisters hands. His voice was little more than a weak whisper, but he did his best to comfort her,

“ _Remember me, though I have to say goodbye, remember me. Don’t let it make you cry_. . .”

The darkness stole him away, though he strained to keep singing, the words of love and comfort dying on his lips when his heart ceased to function.

* * *

“. . .M-Miguel?”

Coco’s voice wavered, staring at her big brother wide round eyes. She reached out and shook at his shoulder, trying to wake him up. She whimpered at the blood that clung to her hands, but didn’t give up.

“Miguel! Wake up!” She shook him harder, but his head lolled and he didn’t give a single sign that he’d heard her. “You _always_ finish your songs! Always! You _have to wake up!_ “

His skin was cold beneath her fingers; she’d never seen so much blood before. It was all over the ground, and all over them. Her brother was unnaturally, dangerously still. She’d seen him get hurt before, standing up to bullies, and once when he’d climbed up a tree to get one of her dolls and ended up falling to the ground. None of those incidents could compare to this. . .

Coco began to wail, a long, loud, mournful sound, fraught with her fear and desperation. When Dante didn’t immediately nudge and snuggle his way into her arms, she just wailed harder.

She didn’t know what to do. Her big brother was _hurt_ and his skin was cold and they were all alone.

 _Coco_ was alone, completely and utterly alone.


	2. Hearts in the Music

"My love is like a song  
As it plays I feel my heart beating  
And when I see you dance along  
I feel my heartache is far more fleeting

So many happy days, the sun ablaze  
My love for you so wildly grown   
Like a rose, so deep a crimson red  
But to each summer comes autumn,  
With the longer, colder nights   
Your breath in the air, as the trees  
All adorned their brightest colors

And as the colors fell away  
I felt myself begin to fray  
Petals fall and music slows  
A saddened, weary winters tempo

So please, even after I am gone  
Do not forgot all the songs  
That I once wrote and played for you   
My heart holds my love, I carry it with me  
Even after I'm long-buried below a pine tree

And ever after, through the long years   
The beat keeps on, never ceasing  
With the music, forevermore, until  
You can dance with me, for eternity."

\--"Hearts in the Music", by ThatDarnLakeSiren

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Busy with packing and moving, here's a little poem I wrote up meanwhile. Thank you to all who've read and kudo'd my work! :3 it means the world to me, I never expected such a reacton.


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